1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a greeting card. More specifically, the present invention relates to a musical greeting card in which a recipient/user's manual input is used to control movement of a mechanical element of the card to create an anticipated visually-pleasing effect to the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Paper greeting cards have existed for many years. Somewhat more recently, such cards have incorporated music to increase the entertainment value of such cards because music tends to enhance the emotional impact of such greeting cards, especially when the music is familiar to the recipients/users. Usually, a musical greeting card looks just like a conventional non-musical greeting card, except that it includes a switch and a miniature integrated circuit (IC) having a microprocessor, memory, speaker, and battery. Both the switch and the miniature IC are embedded in the greeting card so that they are not visible to a recipient/user. Opening the greeting card will automatically turn on or close the switch so that the IC will play pre-stored music at a pre-determined, fixed speed. Closing the greeting card will automatically open the switch and stop the play of the music.
Compared with a conventional non-musical greeting card, a musical greeting card delivers at least two unique and delightful surprises to its recipient/user: first, the interactive surprise of the opening the greeting card and hearing the music, and, second, the meaning or sentimental value of the particular tune and/or music to the recipient of the card.
Other than opening or closing such a greeting card, a recipient/user has no other means to control when or how fast the music will be played and the greeting card offers no other interactive visual surprise to the recipient/user.